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November 2010

November 10, 2010

You know, I plan these things months in advance but they always sneak up on me so quickly! And so it is with this final bookbinding class for the year (and possibly for quite some time, knowing all the major changes coming up in my life...!) - this weekend I'll be teaching a new style of binding: Coptic Stitch. But I'll also be offering to teach the usual Cross-structure technique if anyone wishes to make a leatherbound notebook instead of the Coptic.

The Saturday class is full, but I do still have places in Sunday's class if you'd be interested in coming along. These are the all the details of the class:

Bookbinding technique:Coptic Stitch binding, but you’re welcome to make either the Coptic bound notebook (with hard covers and sewn spine) or the Cross-structure leatherbound book (with soft leather covers) that I usually teach.

Cost:$80 per person, includes all the bookbinding materials, and templates + instructions to take home along with your handmade book ($5 of this amount goes to the Guild to cover the use of their workshop facilities).

If you'd like to book a place, send me an email at:

^ Coptic bound sketchbook by Kathleen Phelps, with linoleum covers.

The Coptic Stitch technique is a great one to learn in a class setting, because (from my own experience) it's quite tricky to pick it up from a book, even a well illustrated one. If time permits, I'm hoping that everyone will be able to complete two Coptic books during the class: a practice one to get started, and a second one that'll really help everyone to get the 'hang of it' and get a good feel for the stitching technique.

I also love how Coptic binding lends itself to using really unusual materials, such as all sorts of found materials for the hard covers (see the examples with the lino covers above and the gameboard covers below), any manner of interesting papers inside, and fun coloured thread for the sewing. And it's adaptable for any size book, from miniature books to very large sketchbooks and albums.

^ Coptic bound 'gameboard' books by Sara Hindmarch

I'm really looking forward to this weekend's classes - Coptic binding is a lot of fun once you've learnt the technique, and I've got more than a few quirky ideas for some creative materials to use for future Coptic books! Hmmm...

November 04, 2010

'Tis true, all this weekend the Balmain Art & Craft Show will take place in the lovely historic buildings of Father John Therry school on Eaton Street, Balmain.

For the first time ever, there'll be a number of Shelbyville products featured for sale in the craft part of the Show: Scrabble pieces (brooches, pendants, keyrings, cufflinks), wooden button brooches, vintage pencil brooches, Bingo pendants, badge sets, sticker packs, bookbinding kits, and even a few zines as well.

I was pretty glad about the Balmain Show being on this weekend, especially since Shelbyville wasn't able to set-up a stall at the Eveleigh Markets as usual this month - the date happened to coincide with the very cool Sydney Open event, which I'd already bought tix for. And the really nice thing about the Show is that I get to drop off the stock before the event, pick up the remaining stock after the event, and someone else handles all the transaction stuff in between. Sweet!

This album shows some of the artworks I've done over the years, and covers a range of mediums including coloured pencil, charcoal, pastel, oils, watercolour, polymer clay, photography, architectural renderings, and a whole mix of others. 'Mix' is a good word...